Frugal Friday.....the February 7th Edition

A quick look at what frugal things occurred in Sluggy's world this past week........

*  I earned .20¢ on Ibotta(2 x .10¢ for buying any item).  It's sort of hard to earn rebates when you aren't buying much. lolz

*  I got last Friday's Weis Freebie.......

Yet again, it was a 2 liter bottle of Weis soda.  This time I got a photo before Ex-College Boy polished it off. ;-)

*  I hit the Bread Outlet for 3 loaves of bread(really 1 loaf and 2 bags of hamburger rolls)this past week. $4 out the door for $12+ worth of premium bread products.

*  My best "deals" at Weis last week were these items.....

Fantastic Friday Hormel chili was .99¢ per can if you bought at least 3 cans at a time.  No coupons for it and I got the last 2 cans of regular chili so had to buy a turkey one.
The other good deal was a jar of clearance type pickles for $1.50.  I also have a .50¢/1 Weis digital Q for it on my card and it doubled to $1 off, making the pickles .50¢ OOP.

*  I sold something on eBay......

2 bottles of an old, discontinued Nexxus shampoo from my stash.  I got these from Rite-Aid(of course!lol)a few years ago so I didn't pay anything for them really.  A nice little profit on this sale. ;-)

*  I got some stuff at Rite-Aid........

And earned a $20 prepaid Visa card to boot..........

And there were some free Qs and samples on Wellness Wednesday as well........

*  I found money.....and whoah doggy was this a GOOD week for that!!!

First off there was this..........

A penny and a dime near the self-checkout machine I used at Weis last Friday.

On Tuesday Hubs and I went to Walmart to look for inexpensive new phone cases(for our new phones) and to pick up almond milk and cheese.  As we approached a vacant self-checkout I saw this hanging out of the machine and nobody was at the machine........

Two $20 bills hanging from the bill chute!!!

There was nobody there so we looked around to see if we could figure out if someone walking away from the self-checkout corral might be the owner.
We agreed that if we turned it into Customer Service it would just 'disappear' into someone's pocket(not the rightful owners)because well, it's Walmart.  So we rang our items out exceedingly slowly in hopes whomever left the cash would realize it and return to find it.  We must have spent 20 minutes ringing up our 6 items(mostly standing there not ringing things up to stretch out our time at the machine)but no one came back.
So tell me, what would you have done?  And what should I do with this windfall?......keep it?....use it for a food bank donation or some other charity?....apply it to our food budget?....or ?
Even if I don't keep it, this still COUNTS in my Found Money Tally.....ya hear me KIM?!? hehehe

Then on Wednesday at Rite-Aid I found this(though after Tuesday's find, it seems quite anti-climatic lol)......

A penny under the candy racks at the register.  That blur in the background is Dixie thinking I have something she can eat so she's being quite attentive to what I am doing here. lolz

Total found money for the week........$40.12
Total found money for the year.......$42.42

That's about all to report in on, except I did find something else this week or rather Ex-College Boy brought us home some sickness.
Yay me!
All three of us have whatever it is.
I don't think it's the flu(I got a shot in Dec.)but a run of the mill cold with sinus and chest gunk.
Good time folks, good times.....

So I may not be posting for a couple days/over the weekend.  I'll be on a tea, soup, vitamin C and cough drop diet until further notice and blowing through our stockpile of Kleenex(literally-blowing!). ;-)
If any of y'all are ill, I commiserate with ya and as for the rest of y'all who are not sick, stay away from those of us who are! hehe

Now tell us all the frugal stuff that happened in your world this past week too!

Sluggy

Wellness Wednesday & Stuff

I almost forgot that yesterday was Wellness Wednesday for February!  Can you imagine that? ;-)

But I did get over to R-A and it seems like Wellness Wednesday is mostly gone.  True, if you are signed up for the 65+ Wellness program you get a 20% discount on what you buy(unless it's sale price is better than that)on WW.  But if you are a Gold Level Wellness member you get 20% off reg. price everyday so that's really not a deal to me.
But no more coupons for WW as far as I can tell. 8-(

Also Rite-Aid seems to have also discontinued it's Allergy Rewards Program(for every $75 spent on select Allergy Products you earn a $20 BC reward during a calendar year).  No one has gotten any credit toward this program for buying these items since Jan.1st it's been reported and there is no mention of it on the end part of receipts anymore.
Boo.

But I went up to Rite-Aid anyway to do a deal for this week.
Like Ms Goose on the Living Large For Much Less blog mentioned last week, if you got your R-A $20 Visa debit card from the last Spend $50/Get $20 Visa card from that previous promotion it's a good week to try to roll it to get another $20 Visa card this week.

While I didn't use my $20 Visa card I used some Rite-Aid gift cards earned in 2018 from a "Spend $50/Get a $10 R-A gift card Beauty" Deal instead.
I'd rather spend the gift cards only valid at R-A and keep the Visa debit card because I can spend it anywhere.  They are valid for 6 months so I can deal with that time frame to use them up.

So here is what I bought at first--
2 x R-A Vitamin D3 BOGOFree=$15.99
2 x R-A Vitamin C BOGOFree=$9.99
4 x Airwick double refills BOGOFree=$13.98
2 x Cover Girl eye palettes 20% disc.=$10.38
SubTotal......$50.34

Coupons Used
1 x $4 wyspend $20 R-A CatQ=$4.00
1 x $5 wyspend $25 R-A Vitamins R-AQ=$5.00
2 x $5.50/2 Airwick double refills IPQ=$11.00
2 x $3/1 Cover Girl eye items IPQ=$6.00
1 x $2/1 Cover Girl item receiptQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.......$28.00

$50.34-$28.00=$22.34 +.06¢ tax=$22.40
I should have earned my Reward Code for the $20 Visa card except.....

Cover Girl EYE items didn't qualify so I had to return them and rebuy two CG face items. ugh.
So the return of the CG eye items earned me back my $10 BC I had used plus $1.01 in cash(due to coupons and sales tax paid).

Not sure why the computer said give me cash since I used BC and gift cards but whatever. ;-)

So this is what I actually bought......

2 x R-A Vitamin D3 BOGOFree=$15.99
2 x R-A Vitamin C BOGOFree=$9.99
4 x Airwick double refills BOGOFree=$13.98
2 x Cover Girl concealers BOGO50%=$11.23
SubTotal......$51.19

Coupons Used
1 x $4 wyspend $20 R-A CatQ=$4.00
1 x $5 wyspend $25 R-A Vitamins R-AQ=$5.00
2 x $5.50/2 Airwick double refills IPQ=$11.00
2 x $3/1 Cover Girl face items IPQ=$6.00
Coupon Total.......$26.00

$51.19-$26.00=$25.19
If I had done the transaction correctly the first time I would have used the whole $10 in BC then $15.19 in free R-A gift cards so a "spend down" of $5.19

As it stands however I used $5.55 of my $10 BC and put the rest of the $11.39 OOP on various free R-A gift cards("spending" $16.94), received $1.01 in cash back on the botched transaction and earned my $20 Visa card code.
rah.

I've entered the code and got an email of congrats and my Visa card will be here in about 2 weeks.

Though there were no Wellness Wednesday coupons they did have the WW table set up with other coupons and samples on it........

$2/1 CeraVe item Qs and  $5 wyspend $25 R-A vitamins Qs.  R-A is introducing a new "cleaner" line of Vitamins and what with the whole R-A line of vitamins BOGOFree this week I incorporated those into what I bought.  If you need vitamins and you spend $25 it's not too bad a deal at R-A this weeek since their vitamins are also BOGOF.
That $5 Q is valid through Saturday 2/8 only though so if you find them in your store you have to use it this week but be warned, when I used the Q on 2/5 it beeped and the register said it was expired! lolz
Good old Rite-Aid.......

They also have 2 different CeraVe samples, Ricola drops(the new ones)and a little pill container for a key ring from Bayer.
Better than a poke in the eye with a stick but WWQs going away makes me sad.
But the company has to change things to stay competitive and not go bankrupt so it's understandable.

Did y'all buy anything at Rite-Aid this week?

Sluggy

2020 To-Do Lists.........January Edition

Here's how the January To-Do List turned out...........


JANUARY

* Pay Bills  DONE  It's always done early or on time each month..

*  Read 1,2 Books  DONE 
I read this one........

"Tethered Citizens:Time to Repeal the Welfare State"
by Sheldon Richman

I am going to use an excerpt from an Amazon buyer's review here as it sums up my feelings so well about this book.
By A. Locke.....
"'Tethered Citizens' is truly an eye-opener.  Sheldon Richman illustrates persuasively and with much historical evidence why our welfare system fails and why it will always fail.  He shows that in fact our welfare system, which many believe helps the poor and uneducated, in fact tethers and enslaves them to the state.  He proves convincingly that welfarism does not work no matter where it has been implemented and in what fashion.  He also shows how the idea and methods used to implement welfare are inherently wrong and inhumane.
I especially enjoyed Mr. Richman's detailed historical examples which help to brilliantly illustrate and prove the point he is making.  Not only does it show the blunder that is the welfare state, it also proves that it is a blunder created not by one of the two major parties, but equally by both......"

I was given a stack of this book by one of the Porcfest speakers, Jacob Hornberger, when I attended his lecture last June, with an eye to distribute it among my readers who wished to read it.
If anyone would like a free copy of this book, email me.  I'll send them via media mail until I run out.  Just pass it along after you read it if you want or keep your copy.

And this one...........

"The White Princess" by Philippa Gregory

At Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor(later King Henry VII of England)defeats King Richard III of England. One is affiliated with the House of Lancaster, one is of the Houses of York and these and additional cousins have been battling over the crown of England, also known as the War of the Roses(Lancastrian sides' emblem was a red rose, Yorkist sides' emblem was a white rose-thus the name given to their ongoing struggle over who ruled England in that time).

In order to unite the country Henry Tudor must take as his bride Elizabeth of York, reported to have been Richard III's lover before his death in battle, and the oldest sister of the 2 Princes(Edward and Richard)who were locked up and purported to have been murdered by Richard III.
But even after wedding Elizabeth of the enemy's camp, Henry VII can't unite England, due to the unknown nature of whether the 2 princes are dead or merely in hiding.  The House of York supporters plot to put a York on the throne and it drives everything Henry VII does as king. (Spoiler Alert-Henry VII was NOT a popular king. lol)
Elizabeth is torn between her familial ties(she was also the daughter of King Edward IV-my 1st cousin, 18 x removed)and her new role as a Tudor Queen and her children, including the future King of England.

I enjoy reading these English historical fiction books by Philippa Gregory and this one didn't disappoint either.  After all, the subject of this one, the White Princess aka Elizabeth of York is my 2nd cousin, 17 x removed.  Her husband, Henry VII is also my 3rd cousin, 17 x removed.
They were the parents on good ol' Henry VIII whom everyone is familiar with(as well as his 6 wives). 8-)))
These Gregory books are an easy and enjoyable way to expand your historical knowledge of the ruling class of distant English history.  They are part history and part filling in all the details of all those interpersonal relationships/emotions that are lost to history but are plausible, the fiction part.

*  Hold Giveaways  DONE

2 Giveaways were held.

* Mail Giveaways  DONE
Both were mailed, one on Friday and the other on Saturday.  Still waiting to hear from Wendy if she got her box a ok.

*  Go to Louisiana  DONE
We drove to LA for the wedding.  Between the cost of flying and getting to the airport and driving and those costs it was a lot cheaper to drive there.

*  Wedding  DONE

It was a lovely evening and my daughter glowed.  More on the wedding and our trip another time.

*  Come back from Louisiana  DONE
We had some fun both on the way to and on the way home but of course there was a clusterfu**k on the last leg of the journey since of course this is how my life goes. lolz  More on that later too.

*  Put Christmas Away  DONE
It took about a week to get it all put away once we got home so mid January before this got accomplished.  But then again, we were in no hurry.

*  Declutter Linen Closet  DONE
With Hubs and Ex-CB shoving stuff in there all willy-nilly the linen closet had become unmanageable.  So I tackled that mess.
Before......

After.....

It's more organized now, stuff taken out and other stuff put in and more stuff moved around to make better sense.

*  Declutter Pantry  FAIL
I didn't get around to this item so it goes on February's To-Do List.

*  Clean House  PASS  
While I didn't get a deep clean accomplished between  putting Xmas boxes away, cleaning the living areas and a bit of garage reorganizing most of the house saw a good deal of cleaning.

*  Prefill Giveaway Boxes  DONE
I couldn't finish cleaning the living and dining rooms until I finished this item since filling them meant spreading toiletries and candy all over two rooms. lolz

But it's done now and I have 7 giveaway boxes ready to deploy when needed.
Added bonus(ie-cleaning....all the giveaway items left after filling these 7 boxes fit into 4 Rubbermaid tubs and are neatly stacked away.

*  Clean my Desk Area  FAIL
Again, parts got straightened up but it's still a mess.  I may need a better system and just less stuff kept there.
And I didn't take a picture of this mess. lolz

*  Celebrate my Birthday YAY!  DONE

It was a nice low key celebration....a cake, a steak dinner out and a matinee discount movie.  That was plenty for me though. 8-)

*  Have Dixie Fixed  FAIL
Well this didn't get accomplished due to not being able to book an appointment with the vet until February.  It's scheduled and getting done in February though.

*  Have a Financial Meeting  DONE
We got the meeting about our finances finally done right before the month ended.  With so much going on in January I didn't get the 2019 calculations finished until mid to late month, then we both needed time to sit down separately once I had all the numbers written out to ponder areas we needed to take action in.
But it's done and at any time in 2020, if we feel the need to reevaluate and change course that will happen too.

*  Plan Goals for 2020  IN PROGRESS
I am still working on what Big Goals need accomplishing in 2020.  Mostly these would be home repairs/improvements to get the house ready for market, any big trips/vacations, and some projects I need to progress on....more of those later in another post.

So it was a pretty good month with many things accomplished.
Three fails but one is not my fault. lolz

Onward and upward to February!  I still have some items to add to my To-Do List for this month.

Do you keep a To-Do List?
How did you do knocking items off your list in January?

Sluggy

2020 Income & Spending Report...........the January Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals, I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.

  I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)

On to the January report---

I had 2 goals for January.......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2020.

I can report that we finished up January in the black(barely).
The amount we ended the month of January with?.....$100.85

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in January---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1883.76
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $584.25
* Loan to EX-CB repaid of $337.50
* A small 401K withdrawal of $1000.00
Total "Income" for January....$7027.75

Expenses in January---

* Healthcare Premium for January was $1883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in January came to $4735.14
* Irregular Expenses(yearly garbage fee)came to $308.00.
Total Expenses....$6926.90

$7027.75-$6926.90=$100.85

Slush into January $18,438.63 left in the Slush Fund to take into February with that $100.85 overage brings  Slush to $18,539.48.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $100.85 for January.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this January,  here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $2.66 lower than in December.
*   The Amazon c/c was $667.23 lower than last month.
*  Medical co-pays were $15.62 less than in December.
* The Kohl's charge was $3.13 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was $45.01 higher than in December(as predicted).
*  There were $75.46 more in gas bill charges than last month.
*  There was $350 more in WAM withdrawals(that was cash spent on the wedding trip to LA).
*  The main c/c bill was $1125.63 higher than in December.
*  The Healthcare Premium went up $35.09 per month for 2020.
*  There was an irregular bill due-the annual Garbage Service bill(but I get a month free if I pay for the year up front.).
*  We also had a Discover card charge($125.51).
*  We wrote Daughter and her new husband a wedding gift check in January and another check to my brother's wife to help pay for her mom's funeral in late January.

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are included in the credit card payment(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS on January---

We knew January would be a high bill month.  Between some Xmas charges that didn't come through until the January billing cycle, the annual garbage fee and Daughter getting married this month(and the subsequent road trip to Louisiana for the wedding and the spending for that trip)we were aware it wouldn't be pretty financially.  But looking back, it could have been a lot worse on the old wallet.


THOUGHTS going forward into February 2020----

We don't see much out of the ordinary spending coming around the bend this month.  There is a birthday(Ex-CB)but I've already got his gifts tucked away(and paid for)so that just means a Birthday Eating out bill this month.  Hubs and I don't "do" Valentine's Day so that's not a blip on our financial radar.  Electric bill will continue to rise(Hello! It's Winter here. lol)

I'd like to keep discretionary spending low in February and tuck as much as we can back for March bills, as we have 3 Irregular bills due then--Long Term Care Premiums, the Annual Sewage bill and Real Estate(County)Taxes.  Last year that all totaled $2665.94 and I don't know how much any of these will go up for 2020 yet.  Ah, the thrill of the unknown. lolz
So anything I can keep from spending in February helps me out to keep our head above water in March.

But we always have the Slush Fund to fall back on if needed.  That has been such a comfort to me and will continue to see us through rough financial months. 8-)

So how was your January financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in January?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!


Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "WTF?!" Edition................

I've never been much for sweet and crunchy snacks(like kettle corn, etc.)so when I saw these at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)I had to take a photo.  My nephew is a BIG FAN of Autumn and anything Pumpkin/Pumpkin Spice scented/flavored.  I'll have to see what he thinks of this specific one.
Anybody out there ever seen/tried these?  Herr's a regional snack brand around here so I don't know if folks in other parts of the country have Herr's brand where they live.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning-

This is what was planned for last week.......

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Pizza
2. Monday--Haddock, Fries, Coleslaw
3. Tuesday--Chicken Caesar Salad

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Butternut Squash Ravioli, Salad

6. Friday--Chicken Broccoli Casserole
7. Saturday--Pork Chops, Green Beans(Hubs is cooking)

And this is what actually happened--

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Pizza
2. Monday--Butternut Squash Ravioli in Alfredo Sauce, Tossed Salad
3. Tuesday--Leftovers(Chicken and Dumplings)

4. Wednesday--Leftovers(Pizza, Salad)

5. Thursday--Haddock, Fries, Cole Slaw

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Barbecue Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 1 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out. 

The Chicken Caesar Salad, Casserole and Pork Chops didn't happen.  We had so much Cole Slaw leftover after the Fish meal that I defrosted some smoke pork for BBQ instead of making one of those meals.  Then we had so much leftover Pizza, Ravioli, Chicken and Dumplings that we had two additional leftover nights.  

What got put into the freezer last week....
* Nothing

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
*  3 bags of Squash Ravioli
*  1 pack of Haddock
*  1 bag of Smoked Pork

A whole chicken I bought at Wegman's last week that I forgot about($6.87)my January Grand Total spending on food to $149.73.
Other than the freebie at Weis I didn't do any more grocery shopping in Jan. I did spend a total of $37.12 at Malacari's produce and Ollie's over the weekend which starts off February's tally for food spending.

My savings percentage last week was 47.60%(without Rite-Aid trips)and January's monthly savings total comes in at 57.86%(w/out R-A).  The February savings percentage is 42.90% so far(w/out R-A).

I have 26 more food shopping/spending days in February.

Leftovers going into this week.....Taco Meat, Chicken and Dumplings, Baked Beans and Cole Slaw.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Fajitas
2. Monday--Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes
3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie

5. Thursday--FFY

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?  maybe Take-Out? Who Knows?

What needs buying for this menu?  Cabbage  I've got a corned beef and ground beef and chicken strips already for those 3 meals.  I'm going to try to stay home this week mostly as I already hit the Bread Outlet and Price Chopper this past weekend(which counts on this week's shopping).

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?  Weis(PMITA)Markets has been pretty "eh" the last few weeks other than finding instant discount stickers on meat items(and I've only bought a few of those).

Sluggy